“They’re a good side, and I think they are an aggressive, direct side,” Stale Solbakken said.

Luciano Beccio and Ross McCormack were on target in the mid-week League Cup win over Shrewsbury.

“They have two good strikers, a good midfield combination with Rodolph Austin and the captain (David Norris) in the centre of the park, “ he added.

Neil Warnock has been busy with no less than eleven summer signings and just as many exits. Austin and Norris have been joined by Paddy Kenny, Lee Peltier, Paul Green, Adam Drury, Jason Pearce, Andy Gray, Jamie Ashdown, Luke Varney and El Hadji Diouf.

But they have lost the influential Robert Snodgrass to Norwich and winger Adam Clayton to Huddersfield.

Solbakken added: “I saw their 2-1 defeat to Leicester on the last game of the season, so I remember some of the players. They’ve obviously added quite a few also.”

“That’s not me being defeatist, I’m just being realistic about the squad we’ve got. I’m telling you what I see. As far as the play-offs go, I’m optimistic that we’ll have as good a chance as most clubs of getting in there.

“You need a bit of luck to finish in the top six and you can’t always rely on luck but, first and foremost, you need the players. I’m going into the season with a lot of the players I wanted.”